Meeting Management Tips, Quotes, Tools

Meeting is a powerful tool to share ideas and information
and keep the channel of communication open. Well-organized and managed meetings
are a success while badly run meetings are a mere waste of time and money.

“Meetings get a bad rap,
and deservedly so - most are disorganized and distracted. But they can be a
critical tool for getting your team on the same page.” - Justin Rosenstein

Effective meetings leave you energized and motivated to
strive hard in order to accomplish your goals. When meetings are managed well,
they take up minimum amount of time, achieve objectives, and create an
impression that something meaningful has been accomplished.

Meeting Management
Tips

The word “meeting” has earned a bad reputation. Nobody wants
to be part of a meeting where everyone is wondering whether they are at the
wrong place. A significantly large number of people consider meetings as mere
waste of time. However, meetings can be productive if organized efficiently.
Here are a few tips:

1.Have a clear objective

A meeting without an agenda or objective is doomed to fail.
What do you seek to accomplish? Do you have a specific and defined purpose for
a meeting? If so, you should go ahead and send invitations. On the other hand,
vague intentions only lead to meetings that are just wastage of time. Ask
yourself a myriad of questions:

·Do you intend to get status reports?

·Do you want to reach a decision?

·Do you want to communicate something?

·Are you looking for ideas?

·Who needs to attend the meeting?

·How much time do you intend to spend on each
topic?

·What would be the order of the topics in terms
of their priority?

·When and where will the meeting be held?

Evaluate everything and then make a conscious decision about
what the next step should be.

2.Be prepared

Make sure you are prepared for the meeting and distribute
the agenda in advance so that everyone else has access to the background
information and materials. This will ensure everyone comes prepared. In the
absence of agenda or information, a meeting would end up in failure, since
there is nothing to be accomplished. In that case, there is no need for a
meeting in the first place.

3.Stick to schedule

You have an agenda and schedule for the meeting. Stick to it
and ensure everything goes on as planned. Nothing derails a meeting more than
one participant taking leverage to talk longer than the allotted time. Of
course, you would not want one person to monopolize the conversation. As soon
as you notice someone trying to take time as hostage, let them know that everyone
else must be given an opportunity to share their input. When you are public
about it, others will stick to the ground rules.

4.Be punctual

Start and end the meeting as per the schedule. People
appreciate it when you value their time. This would earn you a reputation of
being punctual and disciplined. People would be more willing to attend your
meetings, rather than making excuses not to participate. Longer meetings that
drag on for hours become boring and lose their agenda. Watch the clock and let
no meeting last longer than sixty minutes. Make the time count. If someone arrives
late and makes excuses, refuse to start over again for them if they’ve missed
important information. This will send
the right signals across that they need to be more punctual.

5.Encourage open discussions

Everyone has something important to contribute. It’s
important that every participant gets an opportunity to share their views.
Meetings aren’t for leaders to take up 50 percent of the time; rather, a
successful meeting is one wherein everyone gets is able to speak up, and no
single person tries to dominate and hog the discussion.

6.Keep discussion on track

One of the prime reasons why meetings fail is that
discussions waiver from the agenda. Keep the discussion on track. As a meeting organizer, it’s your
responsibility to keep bringing people back to the topic when they try to stray
or wander from the discussion. By doing so, you can hold more effective
meetings.

7.Summarize

At the end of discussion on each item, make it a point to
summarize the key points. Confirm with other participants that it’s a fair
summary. Upon their approval, move on to the next point on the table. This will
ensure everyone understands each point and remains attentive.

8.Say no to distractions

Technology can prove to be a big distraction during
meetings, especially iPhones, smartphones, iPads, and BlackBerries. Banning
everyone from bringing their smartphones and mobile devices to the meeting
would mean there are no distractions. So everyone can focus on the meeting,
instead of responding to their Facebook messages, surfing the web, emailing, or
playing on the iPad.

9.Press for closure

It’s important to discuss a point thoroughly before moving
on to the next. It is equally crucial to press for closure on all that has been
decided before jumping on to the next item. Often meetings end in failure due
to the inability of organizers and participants to keep it on track and press
for closure.

10.Follow up

Keep a record of what has been discussed in the meeting. It’s
quite common for participants to come out of the meeting with different
interpretations. To reduce this risk, distribute notes from the meeting or
email a memo highlighting all that has been accomplished in the meeting.
Documentation of the meeting accomplishments will help ensure everyone is on
the same page.

Meeting Management Quotes

1.“Meetings without an agenda are like a
restaurant without a menu.” – Susan B. Wilson

2.“Meetings at work present great opportunities to
showcase your talent. Do not let them go to waste.” ― Abhishek Ratna

3."Why do we take notes of meetings that last
for hours and call them minutes?" – David Williams

4.“A meeting consists of a group of people who
have little to say – until after the meeting.”
― P.K. Shaw

6.“The least productive people are usually the
ones who are most in favor of holding meetings.” –

Thomas Sowell

7.“Meetings, clearly, can take place anywhere, and
wouldn't it be nice to see your coworkers lounging on the grass with their
shoes off?” – Tom Hodgkinson

8.“When leaders know how to lead great meetings,
there's less time wasted and less frustration. We have more energy to do the
work that matters, realize our full potential, and do great things.” – Justin
Rosenstein

9.“The aspect of congresses and such meetings
generally to which I attach the greatest importance is the discussion. That is
why people assemble: to hear different opinions, rather than to pass
resolutions.” – Fredrik Bajer

10.“There is one crucial rule that must be followed
in all creative meetings. Never speak first. At least at the start, your job is
to shut up.” – William Goldman

2.Cvent: The
easy-to-use application provides a comprehensive solution to run successful
meetings and accomplish the set goals. Use Cvent to significantly increase
attendance and productivity while reducing cost.

3.GoToMeeting:
A professional meeting solution, GoToMeeting is a simple, reliable, and
effective meeting management tool built for your business.

4.ReadyTalk:
This is an easy to use, simple to join, and reliable solution to manage
meetings. Run web seminars, conduct conference calls, and meet with confidence
with this audio, video, and web conferencing tool.

5.LessMeeting: This application enables you to control your
meeting agenda and topics. It is easy to sync with Google Apps, Outlook, and
iOS devices. LessMeeting features an array of apps, so you can have meetings
even on the go.

6.Skype:
The tool enables you to hold virtual meetings at any time and place and invite
as many participants as possible. Take collaboration to another level with
Skype.

7.PlanningPod:
The online meeting management software simplifies how you plan meetings.
PlanningPod comes with 26 tools that are easy to use, so you can manage
everything with ease.

8.MeetingKing:
Make your meetings more productive with MeetingKing. The intuitive software
helps you save time on reporting minutes and organize meetings successfully.

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